Cecil Adams is a name, generally assumed to be a pseudonym, which designates the unknown author or authors of The Straight Dope, a popular question and answer column published in The Chicago Reader since 1973. The column has since been syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada and is also available online. Billed as the “World’s Smartest Human Being,” Adams responds to often unusual inquiries with abrasive humor (often directed against the questioner), and at times exhaustive research into obscure and arcane issues, urban legends, and the like. On more than one occasion, Cecil has been forced to retract an answer or at least modify it substantially when confronted by "the teeming millions", which he does in a gentlemanly and good-humored manner, often claiming overwork and staff shortages. On rare occasions, Adams has made appearances on the Straight Dope's Message Board. A pseudonym (Greek pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons true name. ... Cosette Dwyer is an amazing author. ... The Straight Dope is a popular question and answer newspaper column published in the Chicago Reader (an alternative weekly), syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online. ... The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

Trademark application

The Chicago Reader applied to register "Cecil Adams" as a trademark in 1986, stating in their application that "Cecil Adams does not identify any particular individual but was devised as a fanciful name." The trademark application also notes that the name was first used in 1973, i.e., when the column began. (The trademark registration was refused for unknown reasons, despite an appeal.) Thus, it seems likely that the pseudonym is applied to a group or series of writers, much like Carolyn Keene is used as the putative author of the Nancy Drew book series. Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery series, and also The Dana Girls mystery series, both published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. ... The Secret of the Old Clock, the first Nancy Drew mystery Nancy Drew is a fictional character, the heroine detective of a popular mystery series. ...

Personal details

Adams himself claims that he has "never been photographed," but Ed Zotti, Adams’s "assistant and editor," who fulfills Adams’s publicity engagements, has appeared in at least one photo captioned "Cecil Adams."^[1] A biologist who works at Abbott Laboratories in Abbott Park, Illinois claims that Cecil Adams is his brother-in-law, and is not the original Cecil Adams.. Ed Zotti is credited as being the editor and confidant of Cecil Adams, the pseudonym of the writer of the nationally syndicated column The Straight Dope. ...

In his columns, Adams has revealed a few details of his personal life. Although the FAQ section on his website states that chance references to "Mrs. Adams" may refer to his mother,^[2] one article describes him making out with Mrs. Adams.^[3] Likewise, a reference to his "little researchers" may or may not suggest that he has children. He is an accomplished traveler, and currently resides in Chicago. He is also left-handed^[2] and may be balding^[4] and colorblind.^[5] He apparently attended Northwestern University (he mentions having taken a class with Northwestern English Professor Bergen Evans)^[6] but also mentions once working as an electrician's apprentice.^[7] Color blindness in humans is the inability to perceive differences between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. ... Northwestern University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian research university, located in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois. ... An electrician hooking up a generator to a homes electrical panel. ... If youre looking for the TV show, see The Apprentice. ...

Published works

Cecil Adams’s columns are archived at the Straight Dope website, which also hosts a popular internet forum, and there is a popular Usenet group, alt.fan.cecil-adams, as well. In 1996, the A&E Network briefly aired a show hosted by comedian Mike Lukas based on the column called, of course, The Straight Dope. A typical Internet forum discussion, with common elements such as emoticons. ... Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ... Biography is one of A&Es longest-running and most popular programs. ...

To date, Adams has published five collections of his The Straight Dope columns, and has watched as his "assistant" published a children’s collection in The Straight Dope style titled Know It All.

He has been "fighting ignorance since 1973" (which is the column's motto), and there are more than 600 articles available for browsing in the online archive. Columns are accompanied by illustrations; the regular illustrator for over two decades is Slug Signorino, a successful commercial artist, who, like Cecil, is very secretive. His illustrations often depict Adams as a turkey wearing a mortar board. Slug Signorino is an illustrator and designer most notable for his cartoons in the Straight Dope, a nationally syndicated newspaper column for which he has illustrated since 1975. ... Graduation portrait of Linus Pauling, 1922 The square academic cap, very commonly called a mortarboard (from the French mortier, a type of toque), is an item of academic headgear consisting of a horizontal square board fixed upon a skull-cap, with a tassel, or liripipe, attached to the centre. ...

Cecil regularly refers to his readership as "the teeming millions," a phrase shared by (and presumably lifted from) Bram Stoker's Dracula. Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847–April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ... Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary character the vampire Count Dracula. ...

Notes

American Libraries is the official publication of the American Library Association. ... ISSN, or International Standard Serial Number, is the unique eight-digit number applied to a periodical publication including electronic serials. ... OCLC Online Computer Library Center was founded in 1967 and originally named the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC). ... The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini era. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... Cecil Adams is the pen name of the author of The Straight Dope since 1973, a popular question and answer column published in The Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online. ... The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini era. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... Cecil Adams is the pen name of the author of The Straight Dope since 1973, a popular question and answer column published in The Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online. ... The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini era. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... Cecil Adams is the pen name of the author of The Straight Dope since 1973, a popular question and answer column published in The Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online. ... The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 7 is the 66th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (67th in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini era. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... Cecil Adams is the pen name of the author of The Straight Dope since 1973, a popular question and answer column published in The Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online. ... The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini era. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... Cecil Adams is the pen name of the author of The Straight Dope since 1973, a popular question and answer column published in The Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online. ... The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini era. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ...

External links

• The Straight Dope website
• alt.fan.cecil-adams FAQ
• The Straight Dope Message Board
• Trademark status file